This is our expert guide to basketball betting. Our article contains betting site reviews, information on basketball markets, tips and much more. Let’s kick off with our selection of the best basketball bookmakers in the UK right now.
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Here’s a little more information regarding our recommended basketball bookies form the above table. These online bookmakers are among the best around:
In this section we’re going to take an in-depth look into the qualities of our favourites basketball betting sites. Here are our reviews.
Spreadex have a unique offering, bringing their users a sports spread betting service alongside regular fixed odds. Spread betting works brilliantly with basketball. It’s a high scoring sport and with spreads, you can choose whether to buy or sell, on points scored or the result. The more accurate you are, the more you can win. On the flip-side, the more that you’re wrong, the more that you can lose, but thankfully you can set loss limits to protect your liability.
There is a tab on any basketball match, where you can flick between spread betting and fixed odds, giving you easy access to both products. We really like the welcome offer at Spreadex, which is not just generous, but is also split up into several different free bets, that allow you to try out various sections of the site. With live streaming available, Spreadex is a superb choice.
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A newcomer on the betting scene is BetMorph, who only launched in 2022. It’s a fine choice for betting on basketball. Their site navigation can take some time to get used to, but once you master it, you’ll find that it works surprisingly well. You can easily toggle between live and pre-match basketball events, with a deep range of matches, markets and outright bets available.
Their current new customer betting offer is a generous one, trebling your initial bet. There’s also betting contests, free bets every Monday and an NBA Finals Cashback deal, where BetMorph will refund 10% of any losses. It’s a confident start from this new betting brand and we’re looking forward to seeing the strides that they make in the future.
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As they have one of the best looking and easy to navigate sites around, when we conducted our review of 10bet we found that there was a convenient NBA tab within their Top Action section, which highlights the biggest sporting events of the day. The full list of sports is helpfully organised in terms of popularity rather than alphabetically, with basketball ranked fourth.
In the NBA game we looked at, we found a total of 154 markets, which included a wide range of player props and handicaps. International coverage was also thorough. There’s a big welcome offer and useful features such as Bet Builder and Cash Out, which are both available to use with basketball bets.
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Having launched in 2023, Bzeebet could hardly be fresher. This site has a no-thrills feel, free from the distracting banners and ads that adorn many bookies’ homepage. At the top of the central site is the live section, with a tab to show the latest in-play basketball games. Then comes a highlights section, which features the biggest basketball events of the day.
There’s also a traditional dropdown menu on the left, featuring the full basketball section, which features coverage of many leagues around the world, with matches having a good number of markets. You can enjoy free bets every Thursday, along with an acca boost. Not every new bookie has Bet Builder and Cashout present, so it’s good to see them both available.
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You’ll no doubt be familiar with the name of LiveScore, with their score update website having been a favourite with sports fans for many years. They have now branched out with LiveScore Bet and they have a compelling product. Go to the basketball section and you’ll find a wide number of leagues and competitions from around the world, with handy tabs to quickly access in-play games, those that are being live streamed and the top upcoming action.
There’s a Bet Builder function and if you go into a basketball match, you’ll find a number of ready made combo bets, already priced up for you. The welcome offer is solid, with your initial bet being doubled. Place two £10 football accumulators in any week and they’ll give you a free £10 acca bet to use.
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One of the biggest names in the UK betting industry are 888sport and their product lives up to the billing. Go to their basketball section and you’ll be met by the top five most popular basketball bets of the day. You can also easily browse through upcoming matches, or through various competitions from around the world. Go into a particular game and among the huge amount of markets, you can set the levels of total points and spreads, with a nifty adjustable bar.
There’s plenty of features and a big welcome offer, which sees your initial investment quadrupled. We found a great deal on the NBA Finals, where if you bet £10, you get a £10 free bet. There was also the chance to get a £5 free bet, when you placed a £25 Bet Builder on an NBA game. These are part of a wide range of betting offers for existing customers, which include an acca club and a £5 free bet when you land a winner at 4/1 or over.
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Though this brand has a name that suggests that they are Brit-focused, BetUK also turn their gaze across the rest of the world, which includes the sport of basketball. The basketball section is nicely laid out, making it easy to find your competition of choice. Go into an individual match and you’ll find lots of markets available. The includes a type of market that they call ‘pre-packs’, which are essentially pre-made Bet Builder wagers.
Each game has a full stats section at BetUK, which can help you to make a betting decision. There’s lots of strong betting offers to help you once you have a wager in mind. The welcome offer is generous, there’s weekly free bet deals and a useful acca club.
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Starting life as an online casino, Mr Play added a sportsbook to their offering in 2019. When we checked their basketball session, we were impressed by what was available. The top basketball action from the USA was covered in detail, with various tournaments from across Europe and the rest of the world, all present.
We checked in on a major NBA game and were delighted to see that the favourites were available at significantly boosted odds. The welcome offer isn’t the strongest and there’s not many deals for existing customers available, but they have a decent acca boost promo. Bet Builder and Cash Out were also available.
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As one of the top bookies from Ireland, BoyleSports are making major waves in the UK. They have an extremely well designed website and app, so betting with them is a pleasure. The basketball section was comprehensive and in the NBA game that we checked in on, there were no less than four different bets that had been given price boosts.
There’s also basketball available in the eSports betting section, with NBA2K betting covered. After the decent welcome offer, there’s good news for anyone that likes basketball accumulators. BoyleSports is the home of some of the best acca deals around for existing customers. They are also leading the way with their tips site, which is one of the best around and features advice on basketball bets.
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Luckster is a relatively new sportsbook, which launched in 2021. It has an Irish theme, but an international outlook. There’s plenty of basketball covered from around the world and when we checked, there was competitions from a total of 22 different countries covered. We found boosted odds in basketball markets, which was a nice touch.
There’s Bet Builder and Cashout available, but as a new brand, there’s no live streaming or app yet available. Offers are another area where we expect Luckster to improve over the years, with a relatively small welcome deal and the only promo for existing customers being an acca boost. That said, they have a very solid betting platform, with lots of payment methods and are a good choice for basketball.
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When ranking sites for online basketball betting we considered a number of factors. In our opinion, the following are the most important criteria.
In the table below, you can see the various features that are available at our preferred basketball bookies.
Bookie | Live Betting | Live Streaming | Bet Builder | Acca Deals | Basketball Promos | Basketball Betting Tips |
Spreadex | ||||||
BetMorph | ||||||
10bet | ||||||
Bzeebet | ||||||
LiveScore Bet | ||||||
888sport | ||||||
BetUK | ||||||
Mr Play | ||||||
BoyleSports | ||||||
Luckster |
We’re now going to take a look at some of the most common markets that you will come across when basketball betting online.
As a US sport, you’ll find that American terms are often used, even by bookmakers based in the UK or Europe. One such example is the money line, which is essentially just a match result market. With basketball betting lines you are simply betting on which team will win. If there’s a draw at the end of play, the game goes into overtime until there’s a winner, so therefore there are only two betting options with the money line. Either Team A wins or Team B.
The point spread is what we would normally refer to as handicap betting in the UK. With basketball being a high scoring sport, it’s perfect for handicaps, which task the punter with not just predicting the result of a game, but the margin of victory. Handicap basketball betting evens up markets in which there is a big favourite that is expected to win, who would have short odds on the money line. So the Golden State Warriors for example, might start with a handicap -6.5, which would mean that they would have to win by a margin of seven points.
With outright betting you can bet on a team to win a competition or tournament. There’s also plenty of outright betting opportunities, for different stages of a competition. So you can bet on who will be the overall NBA champion, but also the various divisions and conferences. There are outright bets available on players too, such as who will be the NBA MVP for the season. When you consider that there are outright betting opportunities from all the basketball tournaments from across the world, then you can see that there is plenty of scope for this sort of wagering.
Here are some of the other markets that you will find when betting on basketball.
To give yourself the best chance of making long-term profits, you will need to consistently find the best basketball betting odds. All of our recommended sites are strong when it comes to delivering competitive prices.
If you’re looking to find the best price available for a basketball market, then odds comparison sites, which will list the available prices of several different bookies. Over time you can build up accounts with quite a few of them, giving you a portfolio of sportsbook accounts and a stronger chance of getting the best odds.
We tend to find that the biggest bookies with the most financial muscle behind them, are the ones that are most able to consistently deliver the top prices. For that reason, we’d recommend 888sport as a bookmaker that can be regularly relied upon for their prices.
It’s fairly rare to find dedicated basketball offers that are regularly available, but there are some bookies that provide them. Here are three of our favourites.
Famed for their early payout football betting offer, in which they will pay out on bets when they team that you have backed has gone 2-0 up. Less people know that bet365 have a similar offer for basketball. Place a pre-match money line bet on a basketball match from selected competitions and they will pay out on your team if they go 18 points ahead, at any point during the game.
Quinnbet have an in-play bonus for US sports that includes NBA basketball betting. They will give you a free bet up to a maximum value of £5, based on 5% of your in-play bets. This offer is available each and every day, so if you bet on live basketball on a regular basis, you can soon rack up a number of free bets.
Available throughout the regular NBA season, playoffs and finals, this offer will reward you for your Bet Builder wagers. Every time that you make such a same game multi NBA bet with a value of £25 and cumulative odds of at least 3/1 (4.00), 888sport will give you a £5 free bet to use to bet on any basketball market. For basketball Bet Builder fans, this is an offer that you can’t ignore.
The average NBA game lasts between two-and-a-half and three hours. That gives plenty of time for some live betting action. Betting in-play on basketball adds a thrilling dimension when you are watching a game.
With many bookies featuring live streaming of basketball, there’s far more basketball games available to watch than you’ll be able to find in the TV schedules. What’s more, there are basketball markets that are exclusive to the live coverage.
You’ll find that being able to watch the game while betting on it, will be beneficial to noticing patters emerging that will naturally suggest bets to you. In such situations, you’ll find yourself being able to back wagers that represent value.
Of all the bookies offering live betting on basketball, we would recommend BetUK, which comes complete with live streaming, along with other useful features such as Bet Builder and Cash Out.
In this section we’re going to take a look at some basic betting strategies, that can be applied to basketball.
If you are betting on anything, you should be doing research before the event. This definitely applies to basketball, as there is a lot to consider. Find out about team and injury news. Research the form of the teams and delve into the stats. It will help you to identify value bets.
So we guess that you now want the concept of value in basketball betting explained. A value bet is an instance where the odds are bigger than they should be, based on the true percentage chance of the bet winning. The tricky part is evaluating when this is the case. Research will definitely help, as you will find statistics or patters, that contradict the odds. Experience is another factor.
Something that will help you to identify value, is to read and follow the advice of trusted tipsters. There are experts that dispense basketball betting predictions every day. Follow them for a while and see if they consistently deliver profit. If they do, then it’s safe to follow their tips. Just as valuable will be being able to understand the reasoning behind their decisions, which will help you when it comes to making your own picks.
With basketball matches taking place all over the world, there are generally games available to bet on, no matter what the time of the day or night. You can’t always expect to be at home then, or to have access to a computer. Fortunately, with mobile sports betting apps there is no need to.
Now you can bet wherever you are. Though using a mobile browser to access your sportsbook account works perfectly well, we would always recommend using dedicated basketball betting apps, if available.
Betting apps are specifically designed for your mobile device, so tend to be easier to navigate. They are also faster and more secure. Of our recommended bookies that offer dedicated apps for iOS and Android devices, we like the BoyleSports app the best.
Here are some tips that will help your profitability when betting on basketball.
In the NBA over the past five seasons, the outsiders have won a third of all games. That demonstrates that there are opportunities to back a winner at a big price. To find them, do your research. Look into which teams tend to perform well as underdogs and how playing home or away, impacts their results.
On the flip-side, that means that two thirds of all NBA games are won by the favourites. Often, these favourites will be available at very short prices. They are not necessarily worth backing as an individual bet, but you can make them more enticing by creating a multiple bet. That could mean an acca containing several favourites, or betting on the moneyline as part of a Bet Builder same game multi.
NBA teams have a very hectic schedule. Sometimes they play multiple games in a week, with a lot of travelling involved. Naturally, this has an impact on results. Study the schedule and you’ll spot instances when teams are likely to be tired. You will also see teams that are well-rested, which should give them an advantage.
We’re now going to take you through some of the main competitions that are most popular in basketball, that are available to bet on.
The premier basketball competition in the world is the NBA. From the 30 teams involved, 29 are from the United States and one from Canada, while the players come from all over the planet, with the very best talent gravitating towards this league.
These 30 teams are split evenly into an Eastern and a Western Conference. They each play 82 regular season games, with eight teams from each conference reaching the playoffs. At this stage it become a knockout competition, with the teams contesting best-of-seven matchups, in which the first side to win four progresses. When there is one team left from each conference, they meet in the NBA Finals, for the right to be crowned as NBA champions.
With so many games in a season that starts in October and runs through to June, there are ample betting opportunities available, making the NBA the favourite with punters, as well as spectators.
North America is also home to the college basketball scene. At the highest level, college basketball is run by the NCAA and attracts huge crowds, is broadcast on TV and receives a lot of media coverage.
NCAA basketball betting is extremely popular. Split into three different leagues, within each league there are various different conferences. Like the NBA, the top teams in the conferences advance to playoff stage, where it becomes a knockout competition.
The knockout stage is known as ‘March Madness’ and is a huge event in the US. One of the interesting aspects of college basketball is that the best players will get drafted into the NBA, so this is a serious competition, that creates the stars of tomorrow.
The best quality basketball competition in Europe, is the Euroleague. It’s essentially the Champions League of basketball. Some 18 teams from across Europe, which all play in domestic leagues as well, compete in the Euroleague. Many of the teams names will be familiar to football fans, such as Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid, which are all affiliated to the same sporting clubs as the respective football teams.
Teams each play 34 games in a regular home and away season, with the top eight going through to the play-offs. The Euroleague Final Four is an event that sees the semi-finals, third place game and final, all played over a single weekend. It’s a very popular competition, with only the NBA having bigger attendances than the Euroleague.
Euroleague betting is also big business in the UK and of course, across Europe. The season runs at the same time of the year as the NBA, with the games conveniently segueing into the action from America.
The biggest sides from the Euroleague can also be found in their domestic leagues. Spanish teams compete in Liga ACB, Germany has the Bundesliga, the Greek Basket League is extremely popular, while Turkey has the Super Ligi.
Not quite at the same level is the British BasketBall League, which features teams from around the UK. Other big leagues from around the world include the Australian National Basketball League and the Chinese Basketball Association.
Then there is the women’s game, with the WNBA looking at branching out further and women’s college basketball, taking place alongside the men’s competitions. Overall, it adds up to a huge amount of basketball to bet on.
We hope that you enjoyed our guide to betting on basketball online. It’s one of the biggest sports for betting on in the UK, despite the domestic game having never really taken off.
With the NBA, US college season and multiple leagues across the world to bet on, those that do love basketball in the UK, are spoilt for choice. There are a lot of string options, but in our opinion, the best basketball betting site is Spreadex.
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